During the Bradley-sanity month or so last year I got caught up in the up tick in his confidence on offense. He was taking and hitting 3s without hesitation and getting tons of back door plays.

I thought he could be a poor man's Joe Dumars. Emphasis on poor. Joe's scoring, passing and handle were very good, and he could fill in at the point no problem. I don't know what his ceiling really is anymore. He's young. Within a year or 2 we'll know what we have. Guards often are who they are after 3-4 seasons.

Bradley should not be judged as a PG because he isn't one. He struggled in his first season because Doc tried to play him as the backup PG and that simply isn't his strength. He excels playing off the ball and is great at cutting to the basket and is a VERY underrated perimeter shooter.

He is only 22 years old and improving every year. He is already an elite on-ball defender (you could make the argument that he is the best on-ball defender in the league).

Bradley is a crappy PG but if he plays his natural position at the 2, he COULD become an elite SG in the next 3-5 years.

I didn't realize one could underrate Bradley's 29.7% 3pt% for the season.

This is not a thread to bash him, but i'm just giving some observations. He seems clumsy. He can't dribble (often loses the ball off of his own foot), and he can't make layups. He's one of the few guys in this league who misses fast break layups against lone defenders. I like the difference that he's made on defense, and i like the occasional pull up jumper that he makes sometimes, but he has very little potential IMO. He just doesn't have any offensive skill to speak of. Guys who cannot dribble in this league will not last long as full time starters. Do you guys consider Avery Bradley to be a talented player? I'm just not seeing it with him. He strikes me as a defending, hustle player, nothing more.

To be fair, a lot of guys on this team miss layups (Lee, Pierce, Bradley), and Bass has missed several dunks.

Coming off of double shoulder surgery has got to be tough, and I know we acknowledge him still finding his stride. My issue with AB at this point is still on the mental side (offensively speaking). In last night's game, I don't recall him going hard at Steve Nash at all, and maybe only once going at Ty Lawson the night before in Denver.

The easiest offensive rebound occurs on a drive where the help defender has to rotate over. AB is athletically gifted, and whether or not he converts at the same rate has Pierce or Lee (who by the way is spectacular around the rim), he has to remain in attack mode when he has the advantage. It can lead to fouls, shots at the rim, and 2nd chance opportunities, or even easy baskets for other C's. Steve Nash often drives to the basket with no intention of shooting, just waiting on the defense to drop down and then he finds the cutter. I'm not saying that AB is capable of that on Nash's level, just saying what Tommy says..."take it to the basket" good things will happen.

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"Young man, you have the question backwards."

-- Bill Russell, after a reporter asked him how he would have fared against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

To be fair, a lot of guys on this team miss layups (Lee, Pierce, Bradley), and Bass has missed several dunks.

Bradley and Terry are among the 15 players with 3 or more dunk attempts who are under 70%. (Both are 2-3). Kendrick Perkins (18-26) has the most dunk attempts by a player under 70%. Most overall missed dunks are DeAndre Jordan (16), Javale McGee (15), and Rudy Gay (13). Bass is listed at 31-36 on dunks.

There are only 11 players this season with 25 or more layup attempts who are shooting at least 70% on layups, so that shot is less automatic than some people may think.

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"The worst thing that ever happened in sports was sports radio, and the internet is sports radio on steroids with lower IQs.” -- Brian Burke, former Toronto Maple Leafs senior adviser, at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Bradley got schooled last night; but to be fair he has shown glimpses. Just seemed way to passive. Is telling that we just picked up two guards who could easily replace both Lee and Bradley. Crawford is a little bigger and a proven scorer. T-Will is a solid defender can drive the lane and is an excellent passer.

Terry, Barbosa and Bradley were all too similar and none work particularly well with Rondo. Would love to see if Crawford can play PG, but his assit to turnover is like 1.45

I kept calling him an undersized poor mans tony Allen without the mental lapses... and got buried for it by the "savior" fanboys

You got buried because they are completely different aside from their effort on defense.

Bradley is a superior ball handlerBradley is a superior shooterBradley is youngerBradley has more upside

Both are great defensive guards and that's about where the similarities end. That's like saying prime Wade and Bradley are pretty much the same player. Just complete nonsense.

Bradley has one of the worst handles in the league IMO. He is about as good with the dribble as Eddie House was. I also disagree about him having any upside. If he does have upside, it certainly isn't on the offensive end.

I didn't say he had great handles. I said they were certainly better than Tony's.You don't see the upside in a 22 year old SG who already plays the best perimeter defense in the NBA, has shown he can hit threes over an extended period of time, has shown to have a great off the ball game, has shown he can hit a pull up jumper, and has shown he can blow by anyone coming off a pick.

Sorry, but Bradley is at best the 5th option every night. He is not going to have monster scoring games. We saw last year when given opportunities (and healthy) he can score at a consistent rate. He'll never been Dwayne Wade as a scorer, but scoring 20 PPG is most definitely in his potential.

Right now Bradley is likely still getting back in game shape and I'm pretty sure has some sort of injury because his defense has regressed lately. Bradley has as much upside as Jeff Green.

I know everyone wants to be a prisoner of the moment and ESPN runs their life because they don't actually watch the games, just listen to what the "analysts" say, but Bradley has a ton of upside and is already an elite defender. If you really can't see that I don't know what to tell you.

I know everyone wants to be a prisoner of the moment and ESPN runs their life because they don't actually watch the games, just listen to what the "analysts" say, but Bradley has a ton of upside and is already an elite defender. If you really can't see that I don't know what to tell you.

If you are trying to describe many posters on this blog, you are way off. People come to different opinion of players all the time.

I'd say a balanced view of AB is this: Top of the league defender at his position, despite being undersized. Potential to be a solid offensive player, as he displayed last year in a small sample size, but probably not going to be able to create his own offense. Not much of a play maker, and probably never will be.

Because he's so young, and hasn't even been to one NBA training camp, and because he's a hard worker with a lot of determination, I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes a better than average offensive player. I don't ever see him as a starting quality PG.

I think we're relying too much on Avery to do so many things as we do Rondo. When this happens his offensive game will surely take a hit. I think what's going to put an end to Avery's overkill is definitely the acquisition of Jordan Crawford. He's a 2 position player just like Bradley more offensively polished but defensively tragic. Pick your poison....

Some might want to go back and look at the Draft Express writeups on Bradley. His strengths and weaknesses noted then are pretty much the same we've seen from him. Elite defender, decent mid-range shot, weak finisher, weak long range shooter, not a playmaker etc.

Some might want to go back and look at the Draft Express writeups on Bradley. His strengths and weaknesses noted then are pretty much the same we've seen from him. Elite defender, decent mid-range shot, weak finisher, weak long range shooter, not a playmaker etc.

Sounds spot on to me. I doesn't say anywhere "franchise savior". Where are all the people who thought he was the key to turning our season around? Yep, an undersized SG with limited offensive skills was going to save us

Some might want to go back and look at the Draft Express writeups on Bradley. His strengths and weaknesses noted then are pretty much the same we've seen from him. Elite defender, decent mid-range shot, weak finisher, weak long range shooter, not a playmaker etc.

Sounds spot on to me. I doesn't say anywhere "franchise savior". Where are all the people who thought he was the key to turning our season around? Yep, an undersized SG with limited offensive skills was going to save us

I've probably been harder on Bradley than anyone on this forum... but I actually like what he brings as a defensive point guard. This league is littered with scoring point guards... he fits well there as long as we are running the ball through a scorer like Pierce.

Some might want to go back and look at the Draft Express writeups on Bradley. His strengths and weaknesses noted then are pretty much the same we've seen from him. Elite defender, decent mid-range shot, weak finisher, weak long range shooter, not a playmaker etc.

Sounds spot on to me. I doesn't say anywhere "franchise savior". Where are all the people who thought he was the key to turning our season around? Yep, an undersized SG with limited offensive skills was going to save us

Have you not watched the Celtics the past few weeks? Even without Rondo and going through a gauntlet of really good teams, they went on a winning streak.

The problem with the team was dribble penetration and perimeter defense and guess what Bradleys best talents are? Stopping dribble penetration and perimeter defense.

If you really haven't seen the difference in the team, I don't know what to tell you. They're allowing something ridiculous like 10 less points per 100 possessions since Bradley returned. That's the equivalent of going from worst in the league to best in the league. Granted part of that was also Rondos fault and Green/Terry/Barbosa/Lee finally catching on, but to act like Bradley hasn't made a massive impact is quite frankly, beyond stupid.

Some might want to go back and look at the Draft Express writeups on Bradley. His strengths and weaknesses noted then are pretty much the same we've seen from him. Elite defender, decent mid-range shot, weak finisher, weak long range shooter, not a playmaker etc.

Except this is not the case at all. Last year when he was healthy he was a great, not good, great, finisher around the rim. He also showed that if you give him a pick he can blow by anyone. Remember the Hawks game? He and Bass almost beat the playoff team Hawks without any of the Big 3 playing.

Some of you are just ridiculous. I honestly have no idea what you guys have watched the past two years, because it's apparent to anyone with a brainstem the potential Bradley is oozing. He's been derailed by some unfortunate injuries which is a legitimate concern and another story to argue, but he has shown 3rd tier star potential in the mold of Curry, Deng, Ibaka, etc.

He's playing through a recovery of double surgery, is only 22, has never had a training camp, and has shown consistently dominant defense and streaks of being a competent 3 point shooter, great off the ball cutter, solid midrange shot, and the ability to get to the rim against anyone. He also has the best pull up jumper of anyone on the team not named Terry, Pierce, or KG.